-—.«-_ 

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1 

ymnrrfw 


T^^m^ 


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WILLIAM   MAKEPEACE    THACKERAY 


FROM  A  DRAWING  BY 
SAMUEL  LAURENCE. 


Thackeray 


G.    K.    CHESTERTON 

AND 

LEWIS     MELVILLE 


WITH     NUMEROUS     ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 

JAMES    POTT    AND    COMPANY 

LONDON 

HODDER    AND    STOUGHTON 


PRINTED   BY 
HAZELI.,    WATSON    AND   VINEY, 
LONDON    ^ND   AYLESBURY, 
ENGLAND. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


WiM.iA.M   Makepkack  Thackkijav,  c'lrai  1853 


F()rtit/-y//cci 


W.   M.  Thackkuay  (fVoiH   a  draw  iii<f   by   Daniel   Maclise   a])()ut   1840) 

LAIiKliKAUK,    THK    HoMK    OF    TuACKKlJAv's    MojHKU 
ThK    CHAltTKl{HOr!SK    IX    THE    TIME    OF    TlIACKEKAY 
Rl(  H.MOM)    THA('KE1!AV,    FaTHEU    OF    THE    XoVEI-IST 

W.   M.  Thackehav  IX  1822. 

Thackeray-  at  the  Age  of  Three,  with  his  Father  axd  Mother 

Thackeray  amoxc;  the  Fraseriaxs 

Rue  Neive  St.  Aigistix,  Paris,  1836. 

W.   M.  Thackeray  (by  Frank  Stone,  1836). 

\o.   18,  Ai.iiiox  Street,  Hyde  Park 

No.   13,  Great  Coram  Street,  Brexswick  Sqeari 

Dra\vix(.   from  Pvkcii:    Aethors"  Miseries,  No.  6 

"Comic  Tai.es  axd  Sketches'" 

Best  of  Thackeray  (after  Joseph  Durham). 

Wii.ijAM  Makepeace  Thackeray. 

The  Strax(;ei!s^  Room,  Reform  Club    . 

>.'o.   13  (xow  16),   YoEXG  Stkeet,  Kexsixgtox 


3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

17 

18 


2G2709 


iv  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


No.  36,  Oxsi.ow  Sqiauk,  Buo.mi'jox        ........  19 

Chateai'  i)k  BitKurKHKcari:,  BorLOGXK-sru-MKi!,  1854  .          .         .          .          .20 

Mu.     MlCHAKI,    AXGKI.O    TiT.MAUSH     ......•■•  ~1 

W.   M.  THArivKHAV  (fVoni   a  sketch  bv  Sir  Joliii  E.   Millais,  P.U.A.)    .          .  23 
^V.  M.  Thackkrav  (from  the  painting  bv  Samuel  Laurence  in  the  National 

Portrait  Gallery) 24 

\V.   M.  Thackeuav  (from  a  photogra})h)       .......  25 

The  Wiutixg    Table   and    Chair    used    by    Thackeray    at    Voixg    Srr.EEi', 

OxsLow  Sai'ARE,  AXD  Palace  Greex      .......  27 

W.   ]M.   Thackeray  (from   a  pencil  drawing  bv  llichard  T)()\ie  in  the  British 

Museum)          ............  2(S 

A  PosTHUMors  PoRTRArr  OK  Thackeray  (bv  Sir  John  Gilbert,  H.A.)  .          .  29 

AV.   M.  Thackeray  (fi-om  a  photograph)       .......  30 

A  Page  of  Thacker^av's  Maxcscript    ........  31 

The    House    at    No.  2,  Palace   Greex,    Kexsix(;tox,   ix  which    Tha(  keray 

Died 32 

Thackeray's  Grave  ix  Kexsal  Greex  Cemetery  .  .  .  .  .33 

W.   M.  Thackeray  (from  the  statuette  by  Sir  Edgar  Boehm,  H.A.)    .          .  34 


THACKERAY 


[*^. 


A 


MID  all  tlie  eulogies  and 
all  the  slanders  that  are 
lavished  upon  the  Enghsh  ehar- 
aeter  \'ery  few  people  would 
appear  to  take  any  real  trouble 
to  obtain  a  sincere  view  of  it. 
Rhetorical  phrases  about  its  in- 
articulate strength  and  nobility 
do  not  connnonly  bring-  us  very 
much  further,  f(H-  it  may  be 
questioned  whetlier  it  is  good  for 
a  people  excitedly  to  articulate 
tlieir  own  inarticulate  disposi- 
tion. But,  wlien  all  is  said  and 
done,  it  may  truly  be  said  that 
among  all  the  national  tempera- 
ments the  English  is  pre-emi- 
nently simple  and  profoundly 
well-meaning.  This  well-mean- 
insiiess  combined  with  this 
simplicity  is  responsible  for  every 
one  of  its  crimes,  and  it  is  the 
basis  of  its  real  and  indestructible 
union  of  moral  soundness  with  mental 
dso  for  a  certain  tendency  noticeable  in 
all  English  life  and  character:  the  tendency  to  get  hold  of  the 
trutli,    but   to    get    hold    of   it   falsely  ;    to   grasp    the   fact,    but   to 


.^ 


W.    M.    THACKERAY 

(Reproduced  from  the  Biographical  Edition  of  Thackeray's  Works, 
by  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Smith,  Elder  &  Co.) 


magnificence.       But   this 
innocence    is    responsible 


THACKERAY 


LARKBEARE 

The  home  of  Thackeray's  Mother  in  Dev 


^rasp  it  sonieliow  by 
the  wrong-  end.  A  hun- 
dred instances  might 
be  given  of  this.  To 
take  a  random  ex- 
ample. I  was  taught 
at  my  mother's  knee, 
in  tlie  intervals  of 
hymns  and  childish 
ballads,  tliat  Germans 
smoked  bad  cigars.  I 
see  now  that  this  is 
true,  and  yet  un- 
fathomably  false  ;  that 
is  to  say,  there  are,  if  you  choose  to  put  it  in  tliat  way,  more  bad 
cigars  smoked  in  Germany  than  in  I^ngland,  but  that  is  only  because, 
tobacco  being  cheaper,  more  cigars  of  every  kind  are  smoked.  It 
is  as  if  a  Hindoo  peasant,  who  liad  never  seen  a  jewel  in  liis  life, 
were  to  say  that  England  was  a  land  of  false  diamonds.      In   India 

only  the  rulers  liave 
such  things  at  all  ;  in 
tlie  Strand  any  one 
may  have  them  ;  and 
similarly  tlie  cigar  is 
in  England  merely  a 
badge  of  luxury,  wliile 
abroad  it  is  often  a 
connnon  possession, 
like  a  pipe.  In  this 
mere  casual  instance 
we  have  the  constant 

THE   CHARTERHOUSE   IN   THE   TIME   OF   THACKERAY  Eni>"lisll    attituclc  I      tllC 


From  a   ^ain/ing  by  an  unknown  aiiist,  in  the  Jiosscssion  oj  .Mrs.   Riclunond  Kifchic 
RICHMOND   THACKERAY,    FATHER   OF   THE   NOVELIST 

(Reproduced  liy  kind  permission  of  the  owner) 


THACKERAY 


V, 


W.    M.    THACKERAY    IN    1822 

After  the  plaster  cast  by  J.   Devik 

Collection  of  Augustin  Rischgltz 


and  in  tlie  matter  of  tlie  great 


strong  and  even  humble 
eiu'iosity  which  does  really 
know  something  about 
foreign  nations,  but  along 
with  it  that  strange  ten- 
dency to  put  the  true  thing 
the  \\'rong  way  round,  to 
seize  on  tlie  unimportant 
side  of  the  matter  first. 
It  is  just  as  if  a  foreign 
critic  of  England — instead 
of  knowing  nothing  at  all 
about  us,  as  is  usually  the 
case  were  to  grasp  the 
fact  that  tlie  most  lux- 
lu'ious  English  people  went 
fox-hunting,  and  tlien  ex- 
plain it  by  saying  that 
these  Sybarites  had  one 
weird  liatred  a  venomous 
hatred  of  foxes.  Such  a 
man  would  have  got  the 
facts  right  and  tlic  truth 
wrong  ;  and  sucli  is  om- 
constant  national  condition 
witli  regard  to  foreign 
ideas.  But  there  is  an 
e\'en  more  curious  ex- 
ample of  it  than  this,  and 
tliat  is  tlie  fact  that  even 
in  our  own  discussions, 
reputations  of  our  own  country,  we 


THACKERAY 


THACKERAY 

AT   THE 

AGE  OF  THREE, 

with  his 

Father  and  Mother, 

Mr.  and  Mrs. 

Richmond  Thackeray 

From  a 

ivatcr-coloitr  sketch 

done  in  India  by 

Cliinncry  in  1814,  noiv 

ill  the  possession  0/ 
H/rs.  Richmond  Ritchie 


(Reproduced  from  the 

Biographical    Edition    ot 

Thackeray's  Works, 

by  kind  permission  of 

Messrs. 
Smith,  Elder  &  Co.) 


€xlii})it  this  same  sinoular  tendency  to  catch  hold  of  truth  only  by 
tlie  tail  or  the  hind  leg.  Our  judgments — that  is,  our  current  and 
conventional  judgments — on  our  great  men  of  genius  ha^  e  a  singular 
disposition  to  begin  in  enormous  letters  with  the  unimportant  defect, 
and  miss  in  comparison  the  great  merit  out  of  which   that  defect 


THACKERAY 


'.  '>■ '•.•-*-» 


^.j: 


iV 


/  / 


Coleridge 


Dunlop 


THACKERAY    AMONG    THE    FRASERIANS 

Drau'ii  by  Daniel  Maclisc,   183s 


arises.  Thus,  for  instance,  Kn(»-lislinien  liave  wearied  themselves 
witli  assertin^^-  that  Dickens  was  vulgar  and  could  not  describe 
a  gentleman.  Dickens  could  not  describe  a  gentleman,  but  he  was 
never  vulgar  except  when  he  attempted  that  snobbisli  and  unworthy 
enterprise.  Most  men  do  become  vulgar  when  tliey  describe  those 
who  are  called  vulgar  peo])le  ;  and  it  is  precisely  here  that  Dickens 
was  never  vulgar — there  is  no  trace  of  \'ulgarity  about  Silas  AVegg 
or  Dick  Swiveller.  Tlie  supreme  function  of  Dickens  in  the 
imiverse  was  to  point  out  that  robust  and  liumorous  common  life 
is  not  vulgar,  cannot  in  its  nature  be  vulgar,  and  the  only  thing 
that  his  countryman  can  see  about  him  is  tliat  he  could  not 
describe  a  member  of  the  upper  classes.  We  might  as  well  say 
that   Micliael    Angelo    never   really  painted   a  chartered  accountant. 


THACKERAY 


Here  again  our  sincere  people  huxe  got  to  the  wrong  end  of  the 
telescope.  But  of  all  these  examples  there  is  none  more 
perfect  and  more  anuising  than  the  fasliion  which  called  Thackeray 
a  cynic.  He  was  a  cynic,  if  the  critics  will,  in  the  same  sense  that 
Leonardo  da  Y'mc'i  was  a  chemist  or  JNIr.  Chamberlain  a  horti- 
culturalist.  15ut  the  cynic  in  him  was  not  merely  subordinate  to 
liis  other  characteristics  ;  it  Mas  the  mere  product — nay.  the 
by-product — of  them.  His  cynicism  was  a  minor  result,  a  thing- 
left  over  by  his  triumphant  tendency  to  sentiment. 

Thackeray,  from  the  beginning  of  his  life  until  the  end. 
consistently  and  seriously  preached  a  gospel.  His  gospel,  like  all 
deep  and  genuine  ones,  may  be  hard  to  sum  up  in  a  phrase,  but 
if  we  wished  so  to  suui  it  up  we  could  hardly  express  it  better  than 
by      saving  ^    ^ 


tluit  it  was 
the  philoso- 
pliy  of  the 
l)eauty  and 
the  glory  of 
fools.  He 
belie^'ed  as 
profoundly 
as  St.  Paul 
that  in  the 
ultimate 
real  m  o  f 
e  ssential 
values  God 
m  a  d  e  t  h  e 
f  o  o  1  i  s  h 
things  of 
the  earth  to 


•1  m  mm-  k-fl  -iill 


»-_-  JT 


a  drawing  hy  Eyre  Cnnvc,  A.R.A. 

KUE   NEUVE   ST.   AUGUSTIN,    PARIS,    1836 

(Reproduced  from  "Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes,"  by  kind  permission  of 

iSlessrs.  Scribner's  Sons  and  Messrs.  Smith,  Elder  &  Co.) 


8  THACKERAY 

ooiifound  the  wise.  He  looked  out  witli  lueent  and  terril:)le 
eves  upon  the  world  with  all  its  pageants  and  achievements :  lie 
saw  men  of  action,  lie  saw  men  of  genius,  he  saw  heroes  :  and 
amid  men  of  action,  men  of  genius,  and  heroes  he  saw  with 
absolute  sincerity  only  one  thing-  worth  being — a  gentleman.  And 
when  we  understand  what  he  meant  by  the  phrase,  the  absolute 
sufficiency  of  a  limpid  kindliness,  of  an  ()l)\"ious  and  dignified 
himiility.  of  a  softness  for  noble  memories  and  a  readiness  for  any 
minute  self-sacrifice,  we  may.  without  any  affected  paradox,  but 
rather  with  serious  respect,  sum  up  Thackeray's  \'iew  of  life  by 
saying  that  amid  all  the  heroes  and  geniuses  he  saw  only  one 
thing  worth  being — a  fool. 

The  real  falsehood — if  there  l)e  a  falsehood — of  Thackeray's 
view  of  the  world  was.  in  fact,  the  \  cry  opposite  of  that  cynicism 
and  M'orldliness  once  attributed  to  him.  In  so  far  as  he  did  mis- 
represent life,  it  was  rather  in  the  direction  of  showing  too  much 
bold  disdain  of  Vanity  Fair  and  too  much  absolute  faith  in  the 
saints,  his  unworldly  women  and  his  easily  swindled  gentlemen. 
He  permitted  this  pietism  of  his  to  blind  him  to  the  vivid  atrocities 
of  the  character  of  Helen  Pendennis,  supposing  that  her  luning 
lived  all  her  life  in  a  country  homestead  was  some  kind  of 
preventive  against  cruelty  and  paganism  and  heathen  pride. 
Thackeray  is.  if  anything,  too  much  on  the  side  of  the  angels. 
He  was  a  monk  who  rushed  out  of  his  monastery  to  cry 
out  against  a  gaudy  masquerade  that  was  roaring  around  it. 
and  ever  since  his  monk's  frock  has  been  mistaken  for  one  of 
the  masquerade  dresses  and  applauded  as  the  best  joke  in  the 
whole  fancy  dress   ball. 

There  are,  of  course,  exceptions,  or  what  may  appear  to  be 
exceptions,  to  such  a  generalisation.  So  deep  and  genuine  was 
Thackeray's  insight  into  the  normal  human  sjiirit  that  he  detected 
this    element  of    idealism   where   it   might    least    be    expected.     The 


W.    M.    THACKERAY 

From  a  portrait  painted  by  Frank  Stone  in  1836,  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.   Richmond  Ritchie, 
and  reproduced  by  kind  permission  of  the  owner 


10 


THACKERAY 


A 

-    - 

XO.    iS,   ALBION    STREET,    HYDE   PARK 
The  residence  of  Thackeray's  mother,  where  the  novehst 


ved  for  a  time  on  his 


from  Paris  in  1S37 


c'liaracter  of  ^lajor  Pendeniiis, 
for  instance,  is  simply  a  oreat 
lighthouse  or  beacon  tower,  not 
merely  of  social  satire,  but  of 
eternal  ethical  philosophy.  In 
^lajor  Pendennis,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  is  traced  the 
\  aluable  trutli  that  almost  every 
man  is,  by  the  natiu'c  of  thinos. 
an  idealist.  To  go  to  oreat 
houses,  to  wear  the  latest  and 
yet  the  most  dionified  attire, 
to  know  the  right  people,  to 
do  and  say  at  every  instant 
the  thing  wliicli  is  most  per- 
fectly and  exquisitely  ordinary, 
this  is  a  principle  of  life  against 
which  a  sane  man  might  lune 
not  say.  lie 
materialistic.     One    moral    merit    it    has : 


but  one    thing     he     could 


a  great  deal  to  say  : 
could  not  say  tluit  it  is 
7  at  least  it  is  totally  useless.  A  place  in  Society  is  not  sometliing 
to  drink  :  an  invitation  card  from  Lord  Steyne  is  not  something 
to  eat.  Poor  old  Pendennis  did  not  sleep  softer  in  liis  incom- 
parable clothing;  he  was  a  poor  man,  lonely  and  constantly 
troubled.  Nothing  supported  him  but  his  own  monstrous  and 
insane  religion.  He  was,  as  it  were,  a  glorious  heretic,  a 
martyr  to  false  gods ;  and  notliing  sadder  or  more  honourable 
has  ever  been  conceived  in  tiction  tlian  that  scene  in  the  end 
of  *•  Pendennis."  in  which  the  old  man,  having,  with  a  valoiu'  and 
energy  that  stirs  us  like  a  cavalry  charge,  defeated  all  macliina- 
tions  tliat  would  liave  robbed  his  nepliew  of  name  and  fame, 
suddenly  finds   tlic  nephew  himself  ready  to  Hing  down  tlie  whole 


THACKERAY 


11 


la])()ri()iis  edifice  in  the  name 
of  an  unintelligible  scrnple. 
"  And  Shakespeare  was  right, 
and  Cardinal  A^  olsey,  begad. 
If    I     had     served    my    Cxod    as 

I've    served    you "       It    has 

the  patlios  of  the  meeting  of 
two  faiths ;  the  good  Moslem 
staring  at  the  good  Crusader. 

This  was  the  greatness  of 
Thaekeray.  tlie  man  whom 
sentimentalists  without  hearts 
or  stomaehs  have  conceived  as 
a  mere  satirist,  that  he  felt, 
perhaps,  more  fully  and  heavily 
tlian  any  other  Englishman 
the  innneasurable  and  almost 
unbearable  emotion  that  is  in- 
^()lved     in    the     mere    fact     of 

human  life.  Dickens,  with  his  indestructible  vanity  and  boyish- 
ness, is  always  Icwking  forward.  Thackeray  is  always  looking 
back  in  life.  And  no  man  will  ever  properly  comprehend  him 
until  lie  has  reached  for  a  moment  that  state  of  the  soid  in 
w^hich    melancholy    is   the   greatest   of  all   the  joys. 


OKAM    >  I  ki;i'.  I  . 
SQUARE 
Thackeray's  residence  from  1837  to  1840,  where 
Sketch-Book  "  was  written 


G.   K.  Chestp:i{tox. 


Thackeray 


Jerrold 


DRAWING    FKU.M   PCXCJI:    AUTHOl^S'    MISERIES,    Xu. 


THE     CHARACTERS    AND     PLACES 
OF    THACKERAY'S    BOOKS 


"  QI^X^P:  the  author  of  'To 
>^J^      fiction    aniouo'    us    Inis 


oui  Jones '  was  buried,  no  writer  of 
l^een  permitted  to  de})ict  to  the 
utmost  of  liis  power  a  man.  A\"e  must  drape  liim  and  oive  him 
a  certain  conventional  simper.  Society  will  not  tolerate  the  Natural 
in  our  Art.  Many  ladies  have  remonstrated  and  subscribers  left 
me,  because,  in  the  course  of  the  story,  I  described  a  young  man 
resisting  and  affected  by  temptation.  My  object  was  to  say,  that 
he  had  the  passions  to  feel,  and  the  manliness  and  generosity  to 
overcome    them.      Vou  will  not  hear — it  is  best  to  know  it — what 


I       sv> 


I.ONDOTn  H  CUNKIK' 


t 

4  ■:,}... 

i 

/-"'' 

^  -^m 

^ 

-■ 

De  La  Pluche  M.  A.  Titmarsh  iMajor  Gahagaii 

"COMIC   TALES   AND   SKETCHES" 


14 


THACKERAY 


W.   M. 
THACKERAY 

F7-OIII  a 
tcrra-cotta  bust 

h 

■  Edgar  Boch III,  R.A. 
after  the  plaster 

cast  hy 
Joseph  Durham 

In  the 

National  Portrait 

Gallery 


moves  ill  the  real  world,  what  passes  in  society,  in  the  clubs,  colleges, 
mess-rooms, — what  is  the  life  and  talk  of  your  sons.  A  little 
more  frankness  than  is  customary  has  been  attempted  in  this  story; 
with  no  bad  desire  on  the  writer's  part,  it  is  hoped,  and  with  no 
ill-consequence  to  any  reader.  If  truth  is  not  always  pleasant,  at 
any  rate  truth  is  best,  from  whate\'er  chair — from  those  whence 
graver  writers  or  thinkers  argue,  as  from  that  at  which  the  story- 
teller sits  as  he  concludes  his  labour,  and  bids  his  kind  reader 
farewell."     So  runs  a  passage  in  the  preface  to  "  Pendennis." 

"If   truth    is    not    always    pleasant,  at    any  rate   truth ^iii  best." 


THACKERAY 


15 


There,  in  a  sentenee,  is  the  secret  iinderlyino-  all  Tluickeray's  work. 
The  novchst  is  inehned  to  portray  the  men  and  women  of  fiction 
rather  than  tlie  men  and  women  of  hfe.  This  fault  of  his  weaker 
bretln-en  of  tlie  quill  Thackeray  avoided.  His  characters  are 
always  human.  There  are  no  immaculate  heroes,  no  perfect 
heroines,  no  utterly  unredeemed  scoundrels  of  either  sex  to  be 
met  with  in  the  pages   of  his  books.      He  conceived  it  to    be    his 


WILLIAM 
MAKEPEACE, 
THACKERAY 

(Reproduced 

from  the 

Biographical  Edition 

of 

Thackeray's  Work.s, 

by 

kind  permission 

of  Messrs. 

Smith,  Elder  S;  Co.) 


16  THACKERAY 

duty  to  describe  the  world  as  he  saw  it,  and  to  draw  tlic  men 
and  women  lie  knew.  If  he  has  nowhere  joined  pure  (>'oodness 
to  pure  inteUioenee,  if  he  has  not  bestowed  on  any  woman  the 
humour  of  Becky  Sharp  and  the  simphcity  of  Ameha  Sedley,  it  is 
because  he  had  never  met  this  union  of  forces  in  hfe.  To  liave 
described  the  unreal  and  passed  it  off  as  the  real  would  have 
been  an  offence   against  the  pen  which   was  able  to  boast : 

Stranger  !   I  never  writ  a  flattery, 

Nor  signed  the  page  tliat  registered  a  lie. 

"  I  cannot  help  telling  the  truth  as  I  view  it,  and  describing 
what  I  see.  To  descril)e  it  otherwise  than  it  seems  to  me  would 
be  falsehood  in  that  calling  in  which  it  has  pleased  Heaven  to  place 
me;  treason  to  tliat  conscience  which  says  that  men  iu-e  weak;  that 
truth  must  be  told;  tliat  faults  must  be  owned;  that  pardon  must 
be  prayed  for  ;  and  that  Love  reigns  supreme  over  all."  This  is 
Thackeray's  confession   of  literary  faith. 

"  My  object  is  not  to  make  a  perfect  character  of  anything  like 
it,"  he  wrote  to  liis  mother  when  "  N^anity  Fair "  was  appearing  in 
monthly  parts.  ''  Our  friend  is  not  .Vmadis  or  Sir  Charles 
Grandison,"  he  wrote  of  Philip  Firmin,  "  and  I  don't  for  a  moment 
set  him  up  as  a  person  to  be  revered  or  imitated,  but  try  to  draw 
him  faithfully  as  Nature  made  him." 

The  late  Anthony  Trollope  stigmatised  Thackeray  as  an  un- 
methodical writer.  Certainly  the  great  man,  as  author,  bound  himself 
by  no  hard  and  fast  rules.  His  plan  was  to  create  mentally  two  or 
three  of  his  chief  characters  and  write  from  page  to  page,  with 
only  a  general  notion  of  the  course  he  would  be  taking  a  few^ 
chapters  later.  But  then  to  compensate  for  the  lack  of  method  he 
lived  with  his  characters,  shared  their  joys  and  sorrows,  and  spoke 
of  them  as  if  they  were  real  creatures  of  flesh  and  blood.  "  Being 
entirely  occupied  with  my  two    new    friends,  Mrs.    Pendennis    and 


V  U 

4  s 


J   — 


18 


THACKERAY 


her  son  Arthur  Pendennis, "  he 
wrote  to  Mrs.  Brookfield  from 
Briolitoi;  in  1849,  "  I  "ot  up 
very  early  again  tliis  morning. 
He  is  a  very  good  -  natured, 
generous  young  fellow,  and  I 
begin  to  like  him  eonsiderably. 
T  wonder  if  he  is  interesting  to 
me  from  selfish  reasons,  and  l)e- 
causc  I  faney  we  resemble  each 
otlier  in  many  parts."  "  I  wonder 
what  will  liappen  to  Pendennis 
and  Fanny  Bolton,"  he  remarked 
in  anotlier  letter  to  the  same 
correspondent  :  "  writing  and 
sending  it  to  you,  somehow  it 
seems  as  if  it  were  true."  INIrs. 
Ritchie  remembers  entering  her 
fathers  study  one  morning  a])out 
two  years  later  and  being  motioned  away,  and  how,  an  hom*  later, 
he  went  to  the  school-room  and,  half-laugliing,  half-ashamed,  said  : 
••  I  do  not  know  wliat  James  can  have  tliought  of  me  wlien 
he  came  in  with  the  tax-gatliercr  after  you  left,  and  found  me 
blul)bering  over  Helen  Pendeimis's  death." 

''  I  don't  control  my  characters."  he  asserted  one  day.  "  I  am 
in  their  hands,  and  they  take  me  where  they  please."  And  when 
a  friend  remonstrated  with  him  for  having  made  Esmond  marry 
"liis  mother-in-law,"  he  only  re])lied  :  ''/didn't  make  him  do  it: 
they  did  it  themsehes."  It  may  ])e  because  the  characters  were 
so  real  to  the  creator  tliat  they  li^•e  in  the  memory  of  the  reader. 
If  Thackeray  was  the  first  to  shed  tears  over  the  deatli  of  Helen, 
certaiidy  ]^.e   lias  not  been  the  last.      AMio  can  read  witli   dry  eves 


NO.     ij     (now    i6),    YOUNt;     SIKKl-.l, 
KENSINGTON 
Thackeray's  home  from  1846  to  iSs;:!,  where  "  Vanity  F: 
"Pendennis,"  and   "Esmond"  were  written 


THACKERAY 


19 


of  the  reconciliation  of  mother 
and  son  at  tlie  death-bed?  "As 
they  were  talking  the  clock 
struck  nine,  and  Helen  reminded 
him  how.  when  he  was  a  little 
boy,  slie  used  to  go  uj)  to  his 
bed-room  at  that  hour  and  hear 
liim  say  Our  Fatlier.  And  once 
more,  oh  once  more,  the  youno- 
man  fell  down  at  his  mother's 
sacred  knees,  and  sobbed  out  the 
prayer  whicli  the  l)i\'ine  Tender- 
ness uttered  for  us,  and  whicli 
lias  l)een  echoed  for  twenty  ages 
since  by  millions  of  sinful  and 
humble  men.  And  as  he  s]K)kc 
the  last  words  of  the  supplica- 
tion, the  mother's  head  fell  down 
on  her  boy's,  and  her  arms  closed 
around  him,  and  together  they  repeated  the  words  '  for  ever  and 
ever '  and  '  Amen.'  " 

Readers  of  Thackeray's  works  must  have  noticed  how  frequently 
the  characters  reappear  in  tales  other  than  that  in  which  they  are 
first  introduced.  Reference  is  made  to  them  and  to  their  doings 
in  book  after  book,  until  we  feel  that  we  know  them  personally. 
Thackeray  loved  to  reintroduce  his  old  friends,  and  it  was  his 
intention — frustrated  by  an  all  too  early  death — to  write  a  novel 
of  the  times  of  Hemy  V.,  in  which  the  ancestors  of  his  rendennises 
and  AA^arringtons  should  have  foregathered.  A  long  and  fascinating 
article  might  be  written  tracing  the  subsequent  careers  of  the 
characters  from  the  glances  we  obtain   of  them  at  odd  moments. 

How    many   novelists    are    there    who    have    such    a    gallery    of 


XI).     ;'i.    UXSLOW   StjUARE,    BROMPTON 
Where  Thackeray  Uved  from  1853  to  1862,  during  which 
period  he  wrote  the   ''  Lectures  on  the  Georges,"  the  end  of 
■'  The  Newcomes,"  "  The  Virginians,"  part  of  "  PhiUp,"  and 
many  of  the   "  Roundabout   Papers." 


20 


THACKERAY 


\ 


ilte 


^^-":ti^ 


From  a  dra-o 


.-  h  Ey, 


A.R  A. 


CHATEAU   DE    BREQUERECQUE,    BOULOGNESUR-MER,    1854 
(Reproduced    from    "  Thackeray's    Haunts    and    Homes,"    by    kind    permission    ot 
Messrs.  Scribner's  Sons  and  Messrs.  Smith,   Elder  &  Co.) 


characters  as 
can  be  col- 
lected from 
T  h  a  c  k  e  - 
ray's  books  \ 
What  admir- 
able realism! 
What  mar- 
A-  e  11  o  11  s  i  n  - 
sight  into  the 
natures  of 
m  e  n  a  n  d 
women  ! 

In  his 
earlier  years, 
however,  he  was  too  bitter,  and  his  stories  contain  far  too  many  scoun- 
drels. "  I  don't  know  where  I  get  all  these  rascals  for  my  books,"  he 
said  apologetically  :  "  I  liave  certainly  never  lived  with  sucli  people." 
"  The  Yellowplush  Correspondence  "  does  not  contain  a  single  man 
or  woman  we  should  like  to  meet,  Yellowplush  is  a  scamp:  Dawkins 
is  silly  and  snobbish  :  Blewitt,  the  cardsliarper.  is  a  bully  and  a  fool : 
Lady  Griffin  is  not  pleasant,  and  though  she  is  badly  treated,  her 
revenge  is  too  cruel ;  tlie  Earl  of  Crabs — the  creation  of  a  master 
hand — is  a  terrible  man,  whose  sense  of  humour  only  makes  him  more 
dangerous  :  and  Deuceace  himself,  cardsliarper,  swindler,  fortime- 
hunter  .  .  .  yet  with  such  a  father  what  ^\'as  he  to  become  '.  The 
foolish  JNlathilda  demands  some  pity  :  for  at  least  she  is  loyal  to  the 
man  who  married  her  only  because  he  thought  she  had  money :  "  INIy 
Lord,  my  place  is  M'ith  him."  '' 

Who  will  record  the  unwritten  chapters  of  the  life  of  the 
Honourable  Algernon  Percy  Deuceace  ?  There  is  plenty  of  material, 
if  not  for  authentic  history,  at   least  for  legitimate    speculation.     It 


THACKERAY 


21 


is  known  that  at  Lord  Bagwig's  the  Honourable  Algie  won  from 
young  Tom  Rook  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds  ;  that  with  his  friend 
Mr.  Ringwood  (who,  with  tlie  invaluable  assistance  of  his  hostess, 
trap])ed  tlie  commercial  traveller,  Pogson,  into  the  signing  of 
bills  for  hup-e  amounts  at  the  house  of  JNIadame  la  Raronne  de 
Florval-Delval,  ncc  de  JVIelval-Xorval)  he  won  heavily  at  the 
card-table    from     Mr.     \^ani()lin ;    and   that    with    Hlundell-Rlundell 


ilM  H 


MR. 

MICHAEL 

ANGELO 

TITMARSH 

as   he 

appeared 

at 

Willis's  Rooms 

in  his 

celebrated  charactt 

ot 

INIr.   Thackeray 

F}-0)l! 

a  sketch 

hy 

lohn  Lt-ech 


w- 


-  I'iiniiiiiiii 


22  THACKERAY 

(who  was  up  at  Oxford  witli  .Artluir  Peudeniiis)  he  contri\'ed 
to  swindle  Colonel  Altaniont.  Then  there  is  the  paragraph  in 
"  G-cdi^iuims  3Icssc?i^^n\"  quoted  in  the  last  chapter  of  "  A 
Shabby  Genteel  Story " :  "  ^larried  at  the  British  Embassy,  by 
Bishop  lAixcombe.  Andrew  Fiteli.  Esq.,  to  ^Marianne  Caroline 
JMatilda.  widow  of  the  late  ^Vntony  Carrickfergus,  of  Lombard 
Street,  and  Gloucester  Place,  Esquire.  .  .  .  jNIiss  Runt  officiated  as 
])ridesniaid ;  and  we  remarked  among-  the  company  Earl  and 
Countess  Crabs,  General  Sir  Rice  Curry,  K.C.B,,  Colonel  AA'apshot, 
Sir  Cliarles  Swang,  the  Hon.  Algernon  Percy  Deuceace  and  liis 
lady.  Count  Punter,  and  others  of  tlie  c/ifc  of  the  fasliional^les  now 
in  Paris.  The  bridegroom  was  attended  by  his  friend  Alichael 
Angelo  Titmarsli,  Esq.,  and  the  lady  was  gi^  en  away  by  the  Right 
Hon.  the  Earl  of  Crabs.  ..."  Had  the  Hon.  INlrs.  Deuceace 
forgiven  lier  husband  the  blow  in  the  T/o/.v,  with  the  account  of 
wliicli  the  adventure  of  Mr.  Deuceace  at  Paris  concluded  (  AVas 
the  younger  couple  reconciled  to  tlie  elder  (  and  if  so,  by  what 
means  ?  As  the  author  does  not  solve  the  problem,  each  reader 
nmst  do  so  for  liimsclf 

••  Catherine,"  a  satire  upon  the  "  Xewgate  Novels,"  naturally 
contains  a  collection  of  jail-birds  ;  and  these,  of  course,  are  not 
treated  as  they  would  lia\e  been  by  Ainsworth  or  Bulwer  Lytton, 
])ut  are  sliown  in  all  their  liideousness.  '*  A  Sliabby  Genteel  Story  " 
is  a  A'cry  tine  piece  of  work,  but  its  theme  is  unpleasant — the 
trapping  into  a  mock  marriage  of  trusting  Cinderella — and  tlie 
characters  ()l)jecti()nable :  Air.  and  Mrs.  Gann  and  the  Alisses 
Alacarty  ;  Brandon,  Tuftlumt,  and  Cin(|bars.  Fitch  is  the  one 
honest  person,  save  tlie  heroine,  and  he  is  vulgar.  Tuftlumt  is, 
perhaps,  the  worst  man  Thackeray  ever  depicted,  for  Sir  Francis 
Clavering  is  weak  rather  than  vile,  and  l^randon — the  Dr.  Firmin 
of  "  Philip  " — suffers  from  n  moral  sense  so  perverted  that  he  cannot 
realise  his  own  weakness. 


THACKERAY 


23 


The  rascal  Fitz-Boodle 
is  a  hiiinorist  of  the  first 
water.  His  iniquity  was 
the  writing  of  those  scandal- 
ous chronicles  of  his  friends' 
private  lives.  ''JNIen's 
Wives,"  wliich  tell  of  tlic 
scoundrel  AValker,  the 
blackguard  Boroski,  and  the 
selfish,  vain,  and  terribly 
vulgar  Mrs.  Dennis 
Haggarty.  The  stories  of 
"Dorothea"  and  "  Ottiha,' 
Iiowever,  are  agreeable 
enough.  Even  ••  l^arry 
Lyndon,"  one  of  the  author's 
masterpieces,  is  a  disagree- 
able story.  This,  indeed, 
Thackeray  fully  realised. 
••  Vou  need  not  read  it,"  he 
said  to  his  eldest  daughter  ; 
*'  you  would  not  like  it."" 
The  \  illain  Barry,  who  nexer 
realises  that  he  is  not  a 
hero,  and  his  fooHsh  wife, 
are  only  in  part  counter- 
balanced by  Barry's  vulgar, 
loving  mother,  who  goes  to 
him  in  the  day  of  his  ruin 
and  nurses  him  until  he 
dies  of  (h'liriiDH  trciiictis  in 
the    nineteenth    year    of   liis 


See  note  on  page  40. 


24 


THACKERAY 


residence     in     the     Fleet 
prison. 

After  "  Barry  Lyn- 
don "'  appeared  "  A'anity 
Fair,"'  "■Pendennis,"  "The 
Xewcomes,"  "  Esmond," 
and  "  The  Virginians," 
which  contain  so  vast  a 
number  of  characters  that 
it  is  impossible  to  treat 
of  tliem  one  by  one. 

''  A¥herever  shines  the 
sun,  you  are  sure  to  find 
Folly  baskino-  in  it. 
Knavery  is  the  shadow  at 
Folly's  heels,"'  Thackeray 
wrote  in  the  character 
sketch  of  "  Captain  Rook 
and  jNIr.  Pigeon."  It  seems 
as  if  he  had  not  quite 
grasped  the  fact  that  there 
were  other  things  than 
folly  and  kna\'ery  to  write  about,  and  that  a  surfeit  of  rogues  has 
an  unpleasant  after-effect.  "  Oh  !  for  a  little  manly,  honest,  God- 
relying  simplicity,  cheerful,  affected,  and  humble  ! "'  he  had  prayed 
in  one  of  his  earliest  reviews;  but  it  was  only  with  "Vanity  Fair" 
that  he  began  to   <>;}vc  it. 

It  has  been  stated  by  more  than  one  critic  that  Thackeray  could 
not  depict  a  good  woman,  and  that  those  that  were  without  blemish 
were    also  without    any  attracti^e  qualities.       Yet  Helen  l^endennis 


F)-oiii  the  painting  by  Samuel  Laurence  in 
Portrait  Gallery 

W.    M.    THACKERAY 


the  National 


was    a   good    woman,    a    good    wife,    and    a    good     mother 
Laura  Bell  was  clever 


and 


as  well  as  good ;  and  certainly  Ethel  Xewcome 


THACKERAY 


25 


was  not  a  fool ;  nor  Theo  and  Kitty  I^ambert  other  than  good  and 

trne  women.      It  seems   strange   that  while  his  female  readers  can 

forgive  him  15ecky  Sharp,  greatest  of  adventuresses,  and  can  tolerate 

even  Blanche  Amory   of  "  Mes  Larmes,"  they   cannot  pardon  him 

Amelia   Sedley.      There  are  many  other  admirable  sketches.     Mrs. 

Peggy  O'Dowd,  lion-hearted,  loyal  and  wise  enough  ;  the  Dowager 

Countess    of    Soutlidown,    Mrs.    Bute    Crawley,    Miss    Briggs,    Miss 

Crawley,  the  lovable   Catherine  (the    "  I^ittle  Sister"  of  "Philip"); 

Miss   Fotheringay  and   Fanny  Bolton,    who  ensnared  the    affections 

of    young    Pendennis — what    man    has    not    met    one    or    both    of 

these  ? — Madame     de 

Florae,    the    old  lady 

witli      tlie      beautiful 

face  ;     the   terrible 

Campaigner;    JNIrs. 

^^''arrington,  A\iio  ])re- 

ferred  to  be  known  as 

Madame    Esmond; 

I^ady    Castle  wood. 

tender,  lo\  ing,  lun-ea- 

soning,  wlio  can    rise 

to    tlie    dignity    of   a 

great  situation  :  "  ^ly 

daughter  may  receive 

presents      from      the 

Head  of  our  House  ; 

my      daughter       may 

tliankfuUy  take  kind- 

n  e  s  s  e  s    fro  m    h  e  r 

fathers,  her  mother's, 

her    brother's    dearest  '""   "^ 'a'«  '     w.  m.  thackkkav 

^j  T    ,  ,       /.     1  (Reproduced  from  the  Biographical  Edition  of  Thacl<eray's  Works,  by 

•lend  ;    and    be  gratetul  kind  permission  of  Messrs. 


th,   Elder  &  Co.) 


'2ii  THACKERAY 

for  one  more  benefit  besides  the  thousand  we  owe  him":  and, 
above  all,  irresistible,  wayward  Trix — that  contradiction  in  words, 
an  ambitions  woman.  So  alluring  is  Beatrix  that  it  is  absurd  to 
expect  any  man  to  think  that  she  was  ever  all  bad.  AVho  knows 
but  that  if  Harry  Esmond  had  been  a  little  less  sensitive  of  his 
own  demerits,  and  had  let  her  see  him  as  he  was,  they  might  have 
married  and  lived  as  happy  as  most  couples  (  But  her  chance  of 
redemjDtion  passed,  and  Beatrix  became  the  ^Madame  de  Bernstein 
of  •'  The  Virginians." 

Thackeray's  men  are  no  whit  less  successful.  George  Osborne 
and  his  purse-proud  father :  old  ]Mr.  Sedley  and  Jos ;  Sir  Pitt 
Crawley — that  most  daring  piece  of  character  drawing — and  his 
sons,  Pitt  and  Rawdon :  Pendennis  and  "  Bluebeard."  as  I^ady 
Rockinoham  called  (Tcorge  AVarrington  :  little  Bows :  the  ^alet, 
^Morgan  :  Clive  Xewcome  and  his  cousin,  the  little  bounder.  Sir 
Barnes  :  tlie  \^irginians.  Harry  and  George  :  tlie  inimitable  Eoker 
and  the  irre2:)ressible  Costigan.  Thackeray  drew  gentlemen  in  a 
way  that  has  ne\'er  been  excelled  and  rarely  equalled.  ■•  They 
[the  Kickleburys]  are  traAclling  with  Mr.  Bloundell.  who  was  a 
gentleman  once,  and  still  retains  about  him  some  faint  odour  of 
that  time  of  ])loom."  ••  It  is  true  poor  Plantagenet  [Gaunt]  is 
only  an  idiot  ...  a  zany.  .  .  .  and  yet  you  see  he  is  a  gentleman." 
And  the  autlior  makes  the  reader  see  it  is  so.  In  spite  of  the 
debaucheries  and  his  behaviour  to  his  family,  the  ^Marquis  of 
Steyne  is  always  ^rand  sci^iicur.  p],smond  is  a  gentleman,  and  so 
is  the  intriguing  ^Nlajor  Pendennis.  Half- Pay  :  and  Florae  and 
Dobbin,  and  the  little-worldly-wise  Colonel  Xewcome.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  C\)l()nel  is  too  good  for  this  world,  too  innocent, 
too  ignorant,  too  transparently  a  child  of  nature,  yet  surely  the 
noble-hearted  man  is  human  and  true.  Indeed,  by  this  one 
character  alone  Thackeray  could  take  his  place  among  the  masters. 
The  whole  gallery  of   his   creations   places   him  at  the  head  of  the 


o  ■„ 


2  •= 


28 


IHACKERAY 


witli  Tliaekeray's  char- 
acters may  not  ignore 
the  question  of  the 
''  originals."  Great  in- 
terest has  always  been 
taken  in  Thackeray's 
originals.  3Iiich  lias 
been  written  al)ont 
tliem  wliich  is  worth 
reading  :  much  also 
lias  been  written  that 
is  misleading.  The 
novelist  was  personal 
sometimes,  but  it  was 
s  e 1 d o  m  that  he 
modelled  a  character 
on  a  man  or  woman 
of*  his  acquaintance. 
He  told  his  daughters 
that  he  never  wilfully 
copied  anyone  :  and 
\liere  is  no  reason  to 
disbeheve  his  state- 
ment. The  ]Man|uis  of 
Steyne  was  a  sublimation  of  half  a  dozen  characters,  and  so  were 
Captain  Shandon  and  Costigan  ;  and  Becky,  Dobbin,  Jos  Sedley,  and 
Colonel  Xewcome  were  wholly  original — from  the  celebrity  point  of 
A  iew  at  least.  Many  of  the  people  in  ''  Esmond  "'  are  portraits  of 
historical  personages — the    Duke   of    Hamilton.    Lord    3Ioliun.    and 


//  drawing  by  Richard  Doyle  in  the  British 
W.  M.  THACKERAY 


English     novelists     of 
the  nineteenth  century. 


A 


paper     dealing 


THACKERAY 


29 


Beatrix,  for  instance— but  in  the  tales  of  modern  life  there  are  few 
characters  that  can  be  traced  to  any  particular  source.  "  You  know 
you  are  only  a  piece  of  Amelia.  JMy  mother  is  another  half; 
my  poor  little  wii'e^t/c.sf  pour  haiucoup:'  the  author  wrote  to 
Mrs.    Brookfield.      Edmund    Yates   always   insisted   that    Wagg   in 


Painted  by  Sir  John  Gilbert,  R.A.,  and  prcsoitcd  to  the  Garrick  Club 

A   POSTHUMOUS   PORTRAIT   OF  THACKERAY 
Collection  of  Augustin  Rischgitz 


30 


THACKERAY 


"Pendennis"  stood  for  Theodore  Hook;  that  Lord  I^onsdale  was 
the  original  of  Major  Pendennis's  noble  friend  Lord  Colchicum ; 
and  that  Bunn  was  the  model  for  Dolphin,  the  theatrical  manager. 

It  has  been  said  that 
JNIr.  J.  INI.  Evans,  the 
publisher,  was  portrayed 
in  "  The  Kickleburys 
on  the  Rliine";  that 
JNIr.  Flam  in  "  INIrs. 
Perkins's  Ball  "  was  a 
portrait  of  Abraham 
Hayward  ;  that  the 
Rev.  W.  H.  Brookfield 
stood  for  the  curate, 
Frank  Whitestock ;  that 
I^eigh  Hunt  was  the 
original  of  Gandish  in 
"  Tlie  Xewcomes  " ;  and 
tliat  the  third  INIarquis 
of  Hertford  was  the 
prototype  of  T^ord 
Steyne.  ^Irs.  Ritcliie 
once  saw  the  young 
lady  wlio  was  supposed 
to  have  suggested 
Becky  Sharp  to  her 
fatlier ;  and  Carlyle  and 
his  wife  knew — and 
disliked  —  the  original 
Blanche  Amory. 

Thackeray  was  not 

From  a  photograph  by  Ernest  Edivards  i    •        1  •  4.I 

w.  M.  THACKERAY  topographical     m     the 


THACKERAY 


31 


ij  Lx  U.<  ,  il  kTa-^  iv«^  CVi/J  «J  "U<  :  0-«tM.'l  l^oiw  ICw  kU«»   l^<.t  '1.  'i*^'-  1= 

/"«  L-..,v-^j  u.c^i  t  fet.  C^  t  al^c  uJt  w  jj  flu  ■*— j»  '■!'■-.  v-o^  U ;.-,. 

t  .Vw^  (ul-i^J  AfUstUtC  y,Hg...t..,U..U^ ,  ,1....  .1  ..--»*.(  UJIV; 


A   PAGE   OF   THACKERAY'S    MANUSCRIPT 

Showing  an  original  sketch  in  the  margin 

(Reproduced  Trom  "Denis  Duval,"  by  kind  permission  of  Mrs.   Richmond  Ritchie) 

sense  that  Dickens  was.  Often  the  briefest  mention  of  a  street 
satisfied  liini.  Yet  somehow  tlie  phices  of  the  principal  scenes  of 
liis  no^els  lin()er  in  the  memory.  As  a  youno-  man  he  studied  at 
>\"eimar,  and  later,  wliile  serving  his  apprentices! lip  both  to  art  and 
letters,  he  resided  from  time  to  time  at  Paris.  Had  he  never 
visited  (Germany,  perhaps  Amelia  and  Jos  and  Dobbin  would  not 
have  gone  Am  Rhein,  and  the  chapter  about  Becky  and  the  Pum- 
pernickel students  would  never  have  been  written.  ^lany  of  his 
characters  went  to  Paris,  which  had  for  him  a  strong  personal 
interest.       It   was  there  he    wooed  and    won  his    wife.       It   was    at 


32 


THACKERAY 


a  photo  by  H.  N.   King,  Av 


THE    HOUSE    AT    NO.    2,   PALACE   GREEN,   KEN- 
SINGTON, IN    WHICH   THACKERAY  DIED 


Paris  that  he  wrote  the  auto- 
biographical verse  in  the  ballad 
which  tells  of  the  Bouilla- 
baisse served  at  Terre's  Tavern 
in  the  Rue  Xeuve  des  Petits 
Cliamps  : 

Ah    me  !    how    quick    the    days  are 
Hitting  ! 
I  mind  me  of  a  time  that's  gone, 
A\'hen    here    Fd    sit,    as   now    Fm 
sitting, 
In  this  same  place — but  not  alone. 
A    fair    young    form    was    nestled 
near  me, 
A  dear  dear  fece  looked  fondly  up, 
And  sweetly    s})oke    and    smiled    to 
cheer  me, 
— There\s    no    one  now    to    share 
m  V   cup. 


"  I  have  been  to  the  Hotel  de  la  Terrasse,  where  Becky  used 
to  live,  and  shall  pass  by  Captain  Osborne's  lodgings,"  he  wrote 
from  Paris  to  JNIrs.  Brookfield.  "  I  believe  perfectly  in  all  these 
people,  and  feel  quite  an  interest  in  the  inn  in  which  they 
lived."  It  was  at  Brussels,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Gudule.  tlie 
church  in  which  he  was  clu'istened,  that  Esmond  met  the  in- 
veterate intriguer.  Father  Holt,  masquerading  in  a  green  uniform 
as  a  captain  in  tlie  Bavarian  Elector's  service  ;  and  in  tlie 
convent  cemetery  knelt  })efore  the  cross  Avhicli  marked  the 
grave  of  Soeur  INIary  JNIadeleine,  the  unhappy  Lady  Castlewood, 
who  was  his  mother.  In  that  same  city  many  years  later  the 
author  of  "  ^^anity  Fair,"  not  claiming  to  rank  among  tlie 
military  novelists,  took  his  place  with  the  non-combatants  while 
the  armies  marched  to  the  field   of  Waterloo,   and  portrayed  many 


THACKERAY 


33 


folk  witli    anxious  hearts  await- 
ing     news     that      must     bring 

them     happiness     or   misery. 

"  No    more  firing  was    heard  at 

Brussels — tlie  pursuit  rolled  miles 

away.     The  darkness  came  down 

on  the  field  and  city ;  and  Amelia 

was  praying  for  George,  who  was 

lying  on  his  face,  dead,    with    a 

bullet  through  his  heart." 

Thackeray  was  pre-eminently 

the  novelist  of  the  upper  classes, 

and  as  a  natural  result  the  ma- 
jority of  his  characters  li\'ed  in 
the  West  End  of  I^ondon,  chiefly 
in  the  area  enclosed  by  Park 
I^ane,  Oxford  Street,  Bond  Street, 
and  Piccadilly,  known  as  May  fair.  But  no  part  of  the 
metropolis  escaped  him.  The  Sedleys  lived  in  Russell  Square 
before  they  removed  to  St.  Adelaide's  Villas,  Anna  INIaria  Road, 
A  Vest,  "  where  the  houses  look  like  baby-houses  ;  where  the  people 
looking  out  of  the  first  floor  windows  must  infallibly,  as  you 
think,  sit  with  their  feet  in  the  parlours ;  where  the  shrubs  in 
the  little  gardens  in  front  bloom  with  a  perennial  disj^lay  of 
little  children's  pinafores,  little  red  socks,  caps,  etc.  (polyandria 
polygyria)  ;  whence  you  hear  the  sound  of  jingling  spirits  and 
women  singing ;  whither  of  evenings  you  see  city  clerks  plodding 
wearily.  ..."  Dr.  Firmin  practised  in  Old  Parr  Street ;  and 
Colonel  Newcome  and  James  Binnie,  on  their  return  from  India, 
rented  a  house  in  Fitzroy  Square.  Bungay  and  Bacon  carried 
on  their  business  in  Paternoster  Row,  and  lived  over  their  shops. 
It   was    to    the    sponging    house    in    Cursitor    Street   that    Rawdon 


THACKERAY'S  GRAVE  IN  KENSAL  GREEN 
CEMETERY 


m 


THACKERAY 


/'V    ,V/;-   £c/i:a>-  lioJuu,    R. 
W.    M.    THACKERAY 


Crawley  was  taken  after 
the  ball  at  Gaunt 
House.  Among  others, 
Pendennis  and  AVarring- 
ton  lived  in  the  Temple  ; 
while  Colonel  Xewcome 
and  his  son.  Dr.  Firmin 
and  Philip,  Pendennis, 
young  Rawdon — to  name 
a  few — were  educated  at 
the  Charterhouse.  **  Tlie 
Xewcomes  "  immortalised 
tliat  public  school,  and 
earned  for  the  author 
tlie  well-deserved  title  of 
"  Carthusianus  Cartluisia- 
norum."  The  clubs  and 
Bohemian  resorts  of  the 
day  were  introduced  into 
tlie  various  stories :  the 
visit  of  Colonel  Xewcome 
to  the  '•  Cave  of  Har- 
mony "  is  not  easily  for- 
gotten. In  INIayfair  was 
situated  Gaunt  House, 
and  in  Curzon  Street, 
near  by,  Becky  and 
Rawdon  practised  tlie 
art  of  living  on  nothing 
a  year.  It  was  in  tlie 
Curzon  Street  house  tliat 
Becky  is  made  to  admire 


THACKERAY 


35 


her  husband,  when  he  gives  T^ord  Steyne  the  chastisement  that 
ruins  her  for  hfe.  "When  I  wrote  that  sentence,"  Thackeray 
remarked  subsequently,  "  I  slapped  my  fist  on  the  table  and  said, 
'  That  is  a  stroke  of  genius.'  " 

Lewis  Mei.viij.e. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE 


William 

Makepeace 

Thackeray 

scefro„/ispic 


Richmond 
Thackeray, 
Father  of  the 
Novelist 


see  page  3 


Thackeray  at  the 
age  of  three,  with 
his  father  and 
mother 


The  Charterhouse 
in  the  time  of 
Thackeray 

see  paoe  2 


Thackeray,  from 
the  replica  of  a 
plaster  cast  by 
J.  Devile 


sec  page  4 


\\'illiain  Alakeiieace  Tliackeray,  the  only  child  of  Riclimon.l  and 
Aiiiie  'I'hafkeniy,  was  hum  at  Calcutta  on  July  IHth,  IBIL  lie  was 
(lesceiuled  from  "\'orkshire  yeomen  who  for  several  ji;-enerations  had  l)een 
settled  at  Hampsthwaite,  in  the  AVest  Riding.  In  170(5  his  grandfatlier, 
likewise  named  VVilliam  Makepeace  Thackeray,  sailed  for  India  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  to  enter  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company.  I'nder 
(artier,  the  predecessor  of  Warren  Hastings  as  Governor  of  Bengal,  his 
promotion  was  very  rapid.  In  1770  he  married  Amelia  Richmond,  and  the 
same  year  returned  to  England.  His  fourth  son,  Richmond  Thackeray, 
father  of  the  novelist,  went  to  India  in  17!)^  also  in  the  service  of  the 
Company.  In  1807  he  hecame  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Revenue  at 
Calcutta,  and  undoubtedly  possessed  brilliant  gifts  for  administration  and 
public  work.  He  married  on  October  13th,  1810,  the  reigning  beauty 
of  Calcutta,  Anne,  daughter  of  John  Harman  Becher.  The  painting  by 
Chinnery,  executed  in  1814,  gives  a  glimpse  of  the  Tliackerays  at  the  time 
when  their  son  had  reached  the  age  of  three  years.  He  is  drawn  perched  on 
a  large  jjile  of  books,  with  his  arms  round  his  mother's  neck,  his  father  stiffly 
seated  in  a  chair  elose  by. 

Richmond  Thackeray  was  at  this  time  Collector  of  the  district  called  the 
Twenty-four  Pergunnahs.  T\^'0  years  later  lie  died,  and  in  1817  his  son  was 
sent  to  England  to  be  educated,  and  was  placed  in  the  charge  of  his  aunt 
Mrs.  Ritchie,  who  first  sent  him  to  a  school  in  Hampshire,  and  then  to  the 
establishment  of  Dr.  Turner  at  Chiswick.  About  1818  Mrs.  Richmond 
Thackeray  married  a  second  time,  and  in  1821  returned  to  England  with  her 
husband.  Major  Carmichael  Smyth,  and  settled  at  Addiscombe.  The 
follow  ing  year  Thackeray  was  sent  to  the  Charterhouse,  where  he  remained 
until  1828.  This  famous  scliool  figured  largely  in  his  writings  as  "  Greyfriars." 
It  was  here  that  Colonel  Newcome  and  Clive,  Pendennis,  George  Osborne, 
Philip  Firmin,  and  Rawdon  Crawley  were  educated.  Charterhouse  was  the 
scene  of  lliackeray's  light  with  \'enables,  in  which  he  sustained  the 
unfortunate  accident  to  his  nose  that  caused  a  permanent  disfigurement  in 
his  otherwise  handsome  countenance.  Evidence  of  this  is  noticeable  in  the 
plaster  cast  executed  by  J.  Devile,  which  represents  Thackeray  at  the  age 
of  eleven. 


S6 


BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTE 


Larkbeare, 
the  home  of 
Thackeray's 
mother 


Thackeray 
among  the 
Fraserians 

st-t'  page  6 


Rue  Neuve 
St.  Aug-ustin, 
Paris 

see  page  7 


No.  18, 

Albion  Street, 
Hyde  Park 

see  page  10 

No.  13,  Great 
Coram  Street, 
Brunswick 
Square 

seepage  11 


Til  182o  Thackeray's  mother  removed  to  Larkbeare,  a  house  situated  a 
mile  and  a  half  from  Ottery  St.  Mary,  where  her  son  used  to  spend  his 
liolidays.  On  leaving  school  he  remained  at  Larkbeare  until  he  took  up 
his  residence  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  February  182t).  The 
scenery  surrounding  his  mother's  home  is  described  in  '"  Pendennis,"  Ottery 
St.  Mary,  Exeter,  and  Sidmouth  figuring  respectively  as  Clavering  St.  Mary, 
Chatteris,  and  Baymouth. 

AMiile  at  Cambridge  Thackeray  contributed  to  a  small  paper  called  The 
S)ioh,  a  literary  luid  scientific  Jonriia/  not  condarted  hi/  nn'niher.s  of  the 
Univertiity.  In  it  appeared  "Timbuctoo,"  a  mock  poem  on  the  subject 
chosen  for  the  Chancellor's  medal,  won  that  year  by  Alfred  Tennyson. 
In  1829  Thackeray  spent  tlie  long  vacation  in  Paris,  and  left  college  after  the 
following  Easter  term. 

Having  inherited  a  fortune  from  his  father,  it  was  arranged  that  he  should 
finish  his  education  by  travelling  abroad  for  a  couple  of  years.  Accordingly 
he  spent  several  months  at  Dresden,  Rome,  Paris,  and  ^Veimar,  and  finally 
resolved  to  study  for  the  Uar  on  his  return  to  England.  In  18;)]  he  entered 
the  Middle  Temple,  and  by  November  of  that  year  was  settled  in  chambers 
in  Hare  Court.  On  coming  of  age,  however,  he  abandoned  all  pretence  of 
following  the  profession  he  had  chosen,  and  made  his  way  to  Paris,  whence  he 
wrote  letters  for  The  National  Standard,  and  collected  material  for  miscel- 
laneous articles.  Having  speedily  lost  the  greater  part  of  his  fortune,  he 
turned  his  thoughts  seriously  to  painting  as  a  means  of  livelihood,  and  at  this 
period  frequented  various  studios,  probably  working  in  the  atelier  of  Cxros. 
Later  he  copied  pictures  assiduously  at  the  Louvre,  but  though  he  delighted 
in  the  art  he  failed  to  ac(]uire  any  great  technical  skill  as  a  draughtsman. 

In  January  18.'].)  Thackeray  appeared  as  one  of  the  Fraserians  in  a 
sketch  drawn  by  Maclise  and  published  in  Frusers  Magazine.  ITiis  cele- 
brated cartoon  depicts  the  Eraser  writers  at  one  of  the  frequent  banquets 
held  at  212,  Regent  Street.  It  was  in  this  company  that  Thackeray  first 
gained  distinction  as  an  author. 

In  1836  he  was  appointed  Paris  correspondent  of  The  Conxtitationa/,  and 
in  August  of  the  same  year  he  married  Miss  Shawe.  The  wedding  took  place 
at  the  British  Embassy,  Bishop  Luscombe,  at  that  time  chaplain,  officiating 
at  the  ceremony.  ITie  ne\\ly  married  couple  li\ed  in  apartments  in  the 
Rue  Neuve  St.  Augustin,  a  street  quite  close  by  the  Rue  Neuve  des  Petits 
Champs,  where  is  situated  the  restaurant  made  famous  in  the  "Ballad  of 
Bouillabaisse." 

The  Constitniioital  came  to  an  end  in  18:57,  and  Tliackeray  returned  to 
London  and  took  up  his  abode  for  a  time  at  18,  Albion  Street,  Hyde  Park, 
where  his  mother  was  then  living,  and  where  he  had  stayed  in  1834  when 
first  contributing  to  Fras-ers  Magazine.  Anne  Isabella  Thackeray,  his  eldest 
daughter,  was  born  at  this  house.  A  removal  was  made  not  long  afterwards 
to  No.  13,  Great  Coram  Street,  Brunswick  Scjuare,  where  the  Thackerays 
lived  for  some  years.  During  this  period  "The  Paris  Sketch-Book"  was 
written,  being  published  in  1840  by  Macrone.  Owing  to  the  misfortune  of 
his  wife's  illness  the  author's  household  became  unsettled,  and  about  1843  the 
home  at  tireat  Coram  Street  was  given  uji. 


BIOGRAPHICAL     NOTE 


37 


"  Comic  Tales 
and  Sketches  " 

seepage  13 


see  page  12 


see  page  17 


Thackeray  had  puhlished  in  1841  a  collection  of  "Comic  Tales  and 
Sketches,  edited  and  illustrated  by  Mr.  Michael  Angelo  Titniarsh,"  with 
a  preface  dated  "Paris,  April  1st,  1841,"  from  which  the  following-  is  an 
extract : 

When  there  came  to  be  a  question  of  republishing  the  tales  in  these  volumes,  the 
three  authors,  Major  Gahagan,  Mr.  P'itzroy  Yellowplush,  and  myself,  had  a  violent 
dispute  upon  the  matter  of  editing  ;  and  at  one  time  we  talked  of  editing  each  other  all 
round.  The  toss  of  a  halfpenny,  however,  decided  the  question  in  my  fasour.  .  .  .  On 
the  tille-page  the  reader  is  presented  with  three  accurate  portraits  of  the  authors  of  these 
volumes.  They  are  supposed  to  be  marching  hand-in-hand,  and  are  just  on  the  very 
brink  of  Immortality. 

During  the  same  year  "The  History  of  Samuel  Titmarsh  and  the  Great 
Hoggarty  Diamond "  commenced  to  run  its  course  in  Fraser's  Mugazhie. 
I'iDirh  had  been  started  on  .July  17th,  and  Thackeray's  first  contributions 
appeared  the  fidlowing  .June.  In  the  course  of  his  ten  years'  connection 
with  this  periodical  he  contributed  something-  like  oOO  sketches  irrespective 
of  letterpress.  One  of  these,  reproduced  on  page  12,  is  taken  from  a 
series  entitled  "  Autliors'  Miseries,"  and  represents  Jerrold  and  the  artist 
liiinself  in  a  railway  carriage  listening  to  the  other  occupants  discu.esing  the 
members  of  the  Punch  staff:  — 

Old  Gentleman,  Miss  IViggels,  Two  Authors. 

Old  Gentleman  :  "  I  am  so  sorry  to  see  you  occupied,  my  dear  Miss  Wiggets,  with 
that  trivial  paper.  Punch.  A  railway  is  not  a  place,  in  my  opinion,  for  jokes.  I  never 
joke— never." 

Miss  IV.  :  "  So  I  should  think,  sir." 

Old  Gentleman  :  "  And  besides,  are  you  aware  who  are  the  conductors  of  that  paper, 
and  that  they  are  Chartists,  Deists,  Atheists,  Anarchists,  to  a  man?  I  have  it  from  the 
best  authority,  that  they  meet  together  once  a  week  in  a  tavern  in  St.  Giles's,  where  they 
concoct  their  infamous  print.  The  chief  part  of  their  income  is  derived  from  threatening 
letters,  which  they  send  to  the  nobility  and  gentry.  The  principal  writer  is  a  returned 
convict.  Two  have  been  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey;  and  as  for  their  artist — as  for  their 
artist.   .   .   ." 

Guard:  "  Swin-dun  !  Station!"  [Exeunt  two  Authois. 

In  the  latter  half  of  1842  Thackeray  made  a  tour  in  Ireland,  and  recorded 
his  experiences  in  "  The  Irish  Sketch-Book,"  wliicli  made  its  appearance  the 
following  year. 

Thackeray,  who  for  some  time  had  been  a  member  of  the  Garrick 
Club,  was  elected  to  the  Reform  in  1840,  being-  proposed  by  Mr.  Martin 
Thackeray  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Henry  A\'ebbe.  Sir  A\'emyss  Reid  gives 
an  interesting  description  of  the  author  at  this  Clul).  "  Again  and  again 
I  have  heard  descriptions  of  how  he  used  to  staiul  in  the  smoking-room, 
his  back  to  the  fire,  his  legs  rather  wide  apart,  his  hands  thrust  into  the 
trouser-pockets,  and  his  head  stiffly  thrown  backward,  while  he  joined 
in  the  talk  of  the  men  occupying  the  semi-circle  of  chairs  in  front  of 
him.  ...  To  some  of  us,  at  least,  the  Club  is  endeared  by  the  thought 
that  he  was  once  one  of  ourselves  ;  that  he  sat  in  these  chairs,  dined  at  these 
tables,  chatted  in  these  rooms,  and,  with  his  wise,  far-seeing  eyes  surveyed 
the  world  from  these  same  windows."  In  the  strangers'  room  at  the  Reform 
Club  hangs  a  portrait  of  Thackeray  by  Samuel  Laurence.     On  one  side  of  it 


38 


BIOGRAPHICAL     NOTE 


No.  13, 

Young  Street, 
Kensington 

see  page  .iZ 


Mr.  Michael 
Angelo  Titmarsti 
as  he  appeared 
at  Willis's  Rooms 

see  page  21 


tliere  stands  a  l)nst  of  Sir  ^^'illiaIn  Molesvvorth,  on  the  otlier  of  Charles 
Jlnller.  The  latter  seconded  Thackeray  ^vhen  he  was  proposed  hy  the 
Ilev.  A\".  Harness  as  a  memher  of  the  Atheiueum  on  Fehruary  12th,  I84(). 
Tliackeray  was  elected  to  this  Club  in  IH.')]  under  the  rule  which  provides 
for  the  introduction  of  "persons  of  distini^-uished  eminence  in  science, 
literature,  or  public  services." 

In  l{U(>Thackeray  took  a  house  at  i;)(novv  16),  Young  Street,  Kensington, 
wliere  he  established  a  home  for  his  daughters.  "Vanity  Fair," 
"  Pendennis,"  and  "Esmond"  were  written  there.  "  \"anity  Fair"  made 
its  appeai-ance  in  yellow  covers,  being  brought  out  in  monthly  parts  by 
Messrs.  Bradbury  it  Evans.  The  first  numl)er  was  issued  in  January  1H47, 
the  last  in  July  liuB. 

A\'hen  passing  his  house  in  Young  Street  with  Mi-.  J.  T.  Fields,  the 
American  puldisher,  Thackeray  exclaimed,  "  Go  down  on  your  knees,  y(ui 
rogue,  for  here  '  A  anity  Fair  '  was  penned,  and  I  will  go  down  with  you, 
for  I  have  a  high  opinion  of  that  little  production  myself." 

The  first  number  of  "  Pendennis"  appeared  in  November  1848,  l)ut  the 
author's  severe  illness  at  the  end  of  1841)  interrupted  its  publication,  whicli 
was  not  concluded  until  18-50.  "  Pendennis"  was  folhnved  by  "Esmond" 
in  18.52.  Whilst  residing  in  Young  Street  'J'hackeray  delivered  his  famous 
lectures  on  the  English  humorists  at  V\'illis's  Rooms.  On  page  21  an 
admirable  caricature  by  John  Leech  is  reproduced  from  Thp  Month  repre- 
senting Mr.  Michael  Angelo  Titmarsh  as  he  appeared  in  these  rooms  in 
his  celebrated  character  of  Mr.  Thackeray  : 


Mr.  Thackeray,  of  \'anity  Fair,  announced  a  simple  course  of  lectures  on  a  purely 
literary  subject  ;  and  for  the  reason  that  Mr.  Thackeray,  living  entirely  by  his  pen,  was 
still  recognised  as  a  fine  gentleman  by  all — and  they  were  many — who  knew  him  in 
private,  so  accordingly  his  room  was  filled  by  an  audience  as  brilliant  and  fashionable, 
as  intelligent  and  judicious — in  fact,  after  the  lecturer,  the  agreeable  sight  of  the  excellent 
set  of  people  who  gathered  about  him  with  such  thoughtful  attention  was  really  an 
attraction. 


Chateau  de 
Brequerecque, 
Boulogne- 
sur-Mer 

see  page  20 


No.  36, 

Onslow  Square, 
Brompton 

see  page  19 


On  October  .^Oth,  18.52,  Tliackeray  set  sail  for  the  Inited  States, 
where  he  remained  until  tlie  spring  of  ]8.5.'5.  lie  lectured  in  various  towns 
— New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Charleston,  and  Richmond  amongst 
others.  Upon  his  return  to  Europe  he  made  a  very  short  stay  in  London,  and 
then  proceeded  to  Switzerland,  where  the  story  of  "The  Newcomes  "    was. 


according  to  his  own  statement. 


revealed  to  him  somehow."     Much  of  the 


novel  was  written  abroad  while  its  author  was  travelling  in  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Italy,  or  staying  at  the  Chateau  de  Brequerecque  at  Boulogne, 
wliere  he  is  said  to  have  evolved  the  noble  figure  of  Colonel  Newcome.  The 
Chateau  de  Brequerecque  lies  pleasantly  nestled  in  trees  and  shrubberies 
on  the  (uitskirts  of  the  town,  anil  is  surrounded  liy  a  high  wall  screening  it 
fnmi  public  gaze.  "The  Newcomes"  was  completed  at  No.  80,  Onslow 
Square,  where  Thackeray  moved  from  Young  Street  in  18-57.  "  The  result  of 
my  father's  furnishings,"  wrote'  Mrs.  Richmond  Ritchie  of  this  residence, 
"  was  a  pleasant,  bowery  sort  of  home,  with  green  curtains  and  carpets, 
looking  out  upon  the  elm  trees  of  Onslow  Square.  We  lived  for  seven 
years  at  No.  36,  and  it  was  there  he  wrote  the  '  Lectures  on  the  George's, 


BIOGRAPHICAL     NOTE 


39 


No.  2, 

Palace  Green, 
Kensington, 
wliere  Thackeray 
died 


The  M.S.  of 
"Denis  Duval." 

see  page  31 

Thackeray's 
Grave  at  Kensal 
Green  Cemetery 

see  page  33 


and  the  end  of  'The  Nevvcomes,'  and  'The  Virginians,'  part  of  'Philip,'  and 
many  of  tlie  '  Roundahnut  Papers.'  His  study  was  over  the  drawing-room, 
and  looked  out  upon  the  elm  trees." 

Thackeray  stood  for  Parliament  in  the  Oxford  City  division  in  .luly 
of  18.57,  but  was  defeated  by  a  small  majority.  In  IBfiO  he  undertook  the 
editorship  of  the  Conihill  Maydzine,  of  which  Messrs.  Smith  &  Elder  had 
commenced  pul)lication  in  the  January  of  that  year.  Though  continuing  to 
contriltute  to  this  magazine  until  the  last,  he  retired  from  the  editorship  in 
April  18()2,  doubtless  finding  the  work  too  exacting  for  his  now  failing  health. 

In  tlie  year  1801  the  iirm  of  Jackson  it  (iraliam  built  for  Thackeray  the 
Iteautiful  house  at  No.  2,  Palace  Green,  Kensington,  which  alone  of  all  his 
luunes  has  the  Society  of  Arts  o\al  cfinnncmorative  tablet  insei'ted  in  its  wall. 
An  old  h(Hise  stood  on  the  site  at  tlie  time  of  purchase,  but  after  careful 
consideration  Thackeray  wisely  gave  up  the  idea  of  repairing  and  adding 
to  it.  and  erected  in  its  place  a  fine  mansion  of  red  brick  with  stone 
facings  in  the  style  of  Queen  Anne.  At  this  period,  besides  working  for 
the  Conihill,  Thackeray  was  writing  "Denis  Duval,"  his  last  book,  which 
remained  unfinished.  After  several  severe  attacks  of  illness,  the  novelist 
died  at  liis  residence  in  Palace  Green  on  December  23rd,  18(i;>,  and 
was  iiiten-ed  at  Kensal  (Jreen  Cemetery  on  the  .'30th  of  the  month.  The 
Middle  Temple,  of  wliich  he  was  a  member,  requested  that  they  might  be 
allowed  to  i)ury  him  in  the  Temple,  near  the  grave  of  (Goldsmith.  The  offer 
was,  however,  declined.  A  l>ust  of  'I'hackeray  by  his  friend,  Baron 
Marochetti,  was  placed  in  \\'estminster  Abliey. 


NOTES   OX   THE   PORTRAITS   OF 
THACKERAA^ 


W.  M.  Thackeray, 
from  a  painting 
by  Frank  Stone 

see  page  q 

W.  M.  Thackeray 
from  a  drawing 
by  Daniel 
Maclise  about 
1840 

seepages 


'i'hackeray  was  striking  in  appearance,  being  over  six  feet  in  height  and 
brctad  in  proportion.  He  was  erect  in  his  gait  and  stalwart  in  bearing.  His 
countenance  was  \ery  expressi\e  aiul  capable  of  much  dignity,  and  his 
]ieculiarly  sweet  smile,  combined  with  a  great  gentleness  of  voice  and  manner, 
particularly  endeare<l  him  to  children.  '■(Jiaiid  and  stern  and  silent," 
wrote  Jerrold  of  him  in  later  years,  "a  mighty  form  crowned  with  a  massive, 
siunv-liaired  head." 

Among  the  pm-traits  of  Thackeray  in  early  manhood  is  the  painting  by 
Frank  Stone,  executed  in  1830  about  the  time  of  his  marriage  with  Miss 
Shawe.     This  picture  has  never  been  engraved. 

In  W-Vl  and  1833  Maclise  made  two  beautiful  drawings  of  Thackeray  from 
life,  depicting  him  as  a  fashionably  dressed  young  man,  seated  in  a  iiq/liye 
attitude,  displaying  a  massive  eyeglass.  These  are  now  in  the  Garrick  Club. 
Some  years  later  the  same  artist  made  another  delicately  pencilled  sketch, 
w  Inch  Thackeray  himself  very  skilfully  copied. 

Of  the  various  portraits  by  Samuel  Laurence,  the  one  of  greatest  interest 
is  perhaps  the  chalk  drawing  executed  in  1853  and  here  reproduced  as  a 
frontispiece. 


40     NOTES   ON   THE   PORTRAITS   OF   THACKERAY 


W.  M.  Thackeray, 
from  the 
painting  toy 
Samuel 

Laurence  in  the 
National  Portrait 
Gallery 

see  page  24 


W.  M.  Thackeray, 
from  a  copy  of  the 
bust  by  Joseph 
Durham^  A.R.A. 

^.  1st.  Thackeray, 
from  the 
statuette  by  Sir 
Edgar  Boehm, 
R.A. 

see  /,7;v  34 
W.  M.  Thackeray, 
from  a  sketch  by 
Sir  John  E. 
MUlais,  P.R.A. 


Thackeray,  from 
a  painting  toy 
Sir  John  Giltoert, 
R.A. 

see  page  29 

Thackeray,  from 
a  drawing  toy 
Richard  Doyle 

see  page  28 


Charlotte  Bronte,  when  .slie  first  saw  tliis  portrait,  exclaimed,  "  And  there 
came  up  a  lion  out  of  .Judali."  Later  she  wrote:  "  My  father  stood  for  a 
(liiarter  of  an  hour  this  morninjf  examining-  the  great  man's  picture.  The 
conclusion  of  his  survey  was  that  he  thought  it  a  puzzling  head  ;  if  he  had 
known  nothing  previously  of  the  orig-inal's  character,  he  could  not  have  read 
it  in  his  features.  I  woiuler  at  this.  To  me  the  broad  brow  seems  to  express 
intellect.  Certain  lines  about  the  nose  and  cheek  betray  the  .satirist  and 
cynic  ;  the  mouth  indicates  a  child-like  simplicity,  perhaps  even  a  degree 
of  irresoluteness,  inconsistency — weakness,  in  short,  but  a  weakness  not 
unamiable." 

A  replica  of  the  painting  by  the  same  artist  in  the  National  Portrait 
(iallery  was  presented  by  Thackeray  to  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  and  remained 
for  many  years  in  the  possession  of  the  Uowager  Lady  Pollock. 

In  the  National  Portrait  Ciallery  is  also  a  l>ust  modelled  in  terra-cotta  by 
Sir  Ldgar  Hoehm  frimi  the  original  plaster  mould  by  Joseph  Durham,  A.K.A., 
which  was  presented  to  the  (Jarrick  Cluli.  And  the  same  sculptor  executed 
in  1B()0  a  statuette  for  which  Thackeray  wlien  in  Paris  gave  only  two  short 
sittings  of  half  an  hour's  duration.  "The  eminent  sculptor,"  writes  Mr. 
V.  (J.  Kitt(ui  in  the  MugnzUie  of  Art,  "  even  in  that  space  of  time  succeeded  in 
all  but  comjjleting-  one  of  the  most  successful  portraits  of  his  subject  ever 
attempted."  "The  work  of  Sir  Jolni  Millais  possesses  exceptional  interest," 
continues  the  same  writer,  "and  especially  may  this  be  said  of  a  full-length 
delineation  by  that  master-band  of  his  famous  literary  contemporary.  Although 
but  a  slight  memory-sketch,  it  is  very  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  the 
portraiture  so  very  life-like  and  true  that  Sir  Edgar  Boehm  derived  from 
it  considerable  assistance  when  completing  his  excellent  stiituette  of  the 
novelist." 

'J'he  posthumous  portrait  of  Thackeray  painted  by  Sir  John  (Gilbert,  R.A., 
was  anu)ngst  those  presented  to  the  (rarrick  Club.  It  represents  the  novelist 
\\\\\\  long  white  hair  and  spectacles  seated  at  a  small  table  on  which  tea-things 
are  displayed.  In  the  l)ackground  appears  Stantield's  picture  of  a  Dutcii 
\'essel,  which  may  still  be  seen  in  one  of  the  Club  apartments. 

The  i)encil  drawing  taken  from  the  life  by  Richard  Doyle,  which  is  now 
in  the  liritish  Museum,  is  an  interesting  and  very  characteristic  sketch  of  the 
luivelist. 

He  was  a  cynic  ;  you  might  read  it  w  rit 

In  that  broad  brow,  crowned  «ith  its  silver  hair; 
In  those  blue  eyes,  with  childlike  candour  lit, 

In  the  sweet  smile  his  lips  were  wont  to  wear.   ■ 
A  cynic?     Ves — if  'tis  the  cynic's  part 

To  track  the  serpent's  trail,  with  saddened  eye. 
To  mark  how  good  and  ill  divide  the  heart, 
How  lives  in  chequered  shade  and  sunshine  lie. 

— Commemorative  verses  from  Punch. 


The  portrait  of  Thackeray  by  Sir  John  E.   Millais,   P 
possession  of  Mrs.   Richmond  Ritchie,  and  i; 


R.A.,  which  appears  on  page  23,  is  in  the 
reproduced  by  her  kind  permission. 


M 


14  DAY  USE 

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